A day in the life of a Personal Assistant

Behind every manager or company director in the corporate world you’ll find an organised, efficient personal assistant. Although most companies do not require a Personal Assistant, there are still many business that would not run as smoothly as they do without one for example: Financial, Legal and Accounting companies.

The PA’s main duties will vary from company to company but the primary role of a Personal Assistant is to manage the day-to-day activities of the Company Director. So we found out exactly what a day looks like from a Personal Assistant, Lewis Standbury.

What are the main aspects of your role?
Being a PA you have a lot of responsibilities in your role, but the main roles are:
• Giving full administrative support to the Company Director
• Organising and maintaining multiple email inboxes
• Diary management and maintenance
• Travel arrangements
• Meeting & Greeting visitors
• Liaising with clients, suppliers and other staff in a professional manner
• Maintaining the office

What is the hardest part of your day?
I am actively involved in most areas of business so it’s difficult at all times to decide what is the most important aspect of the business to focus on. For example when an event is coming up all other areas of the business still need to run as smoothly as possible, as if it were a normal day.

What do you enjoy most about your role?
I love that there are no two days the same. With different events and different aspects of the business that need my attention over time it is unlikely that I will be doing the same thing for more than a day at a time.

What type of person do you think you need to be to be a PA?
I think anyone can be an assistant. However, the person needs to be very organised to be able to deal with both their own workload and organising their Directors schedule, the person needs to be outgoing to be able to deal with a large amount of people on a daily basis.

One piece of advice you would give to other PA’s?
Make sure you don’t try and run before you can walk. Be patient and fully understand the role and what is expected of you before you can go above and beyond.